


So Make Way (To Start the Revolution)

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Nanites, One Shot, Originally Posted on Tumblr, aka Querl Dox: Nanite Whisperer, hints of Karadox, references to events from 4x02, takes place during 4x04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-20 01:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16546220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: prompt from Tumblr user hamoriddle: "Can you write something about brainy and nano-bot? Like he is talking or encouraging or appreciating them after the air is cleared? This is so cute when I imagine that. Thanks!!!"





	So Make Way (To Start the Revolution)

He couldn’t see the nanobots, once they were released, but he felt them. He sensed that they were present, spreading themselves through the atmosphere, beginning to take the Kryptonite out of the air.

It was going to take some time, he knew. But in the end, the world would be safe, because Supergirl would be safe.

Superman as well, of course, once he returned from Argo. But Kara was who he was focused on- and, as he reflected ironically, his own Kryptonite.

It was an injustice to her, to call her that. But there was no escaping the fact that her incapacitation had affected him so strongly, caused him to feel such disruptive emotions that he couldn’t function properly or find a solution to this situation without Lena’s help.

He was going to have to think about how to more properly refer to her.

But until then, he was dividing his attention as well, among the nanites that were sent out. They were new, after all, and never used for a task that large, or that important.

 _Keep going,_ he urged. _You are doing excellent work._

The air began to clear a little bit faster, the percentages rising on the device in front of him by the second.

Yet, after that, as he was beginning to get his hopes up, the estimated time for the air to be fully clear extended, and the percentage slowed down.

It seemed, as he came into focus with the collective nanite mind, that they were nervous. What if they could not fully complete what had to be done? What if there were not enough of them, or what if they were not doing enough? What if something cut them off from their task, and their efforts backfired, only adding Kryptonite into the air?

 _You have nothing to be afraid of,_ he answered. _Lena Luthor is helping me- keeping herself safe, in order to make sure you complete what you are meant to do. You can trust her, and more importantly, trust yourselves. Each one of you is doing your part to help us- and once you are done, the entire world will thank you._

The percentage began to rise more quickly again, and Brainy sighed in relief.

However, that was short-lived, as Alex jarred his mind from the connection, and he had to split that in two to concentrate on talking to her as well as keep his link with the nanites.

“Lena and I have found a way to clear the atmosphere of Kryptonite.” He said, turning towards her. “We’ve reconfigured L-Corp nanites-“

“Okay, how long?”

There it was again. The pressure- not that he was unused to it. He had experience with working on deadlines…but Alex expected more from him, just as, now, he was realizing that he and Lena expected more from the nanites. He, himself, had felt like one of those nanites just a few weeks before.

Sometimes, he still experienced that sensation.

But he needed to box that up, for the moment, and give Alex the necessary information she required.

“Uncertain.” He replied. “None of the nanites have ever eaten Kryptonite before, and they’re understandably very nervous.”

Alex started to walk away, then, as she just gave him a look that said she didn’t believe a word he was saying.

He still raised his voice, though, as if following her out of the room.

“I don’t want to ask too much of them, they’re just nanites!”

But she asked a lot of him, as did Lena- and the last thing he wanted was to disappoint two of his personal heroes.

With her gone, however, he could concentrate properly once more.

It reminded him of being connected to the cyber-construct on his home planet, before he left. Within it, he could lose himself, forget that he was Querl Dox, of the infamous Brainiac clan. He could even forget his organic body, and solely exist as an AI, a stream of information, exchanging his with that of others, as was expected of him.

That experience was never the same once he got to Earth, but every time he did so, he felt at home again, as if he carried a piece of Colu with him. And he did, in his own mind, he supposed.

Whenever he was able to align with the rest of his kind, any memories of what he faced on Earth were temporarily lifted. He wasn’t affected by any judgment from those on his new home world, any hatred for simply existing.

But that was always temporary, and those feelings always returned.

And at no time were they more palpable than right then, when the events that occurred at the pizzeria were still fresh in his mind. When he could still remember, vividly, how the expression of the owner had changed when he saw Brainy’s true face, how the baseball bat was swung at his head.

More comfortingly, how that reporter had stepped in, spoken up for him when he was in danger, promising that she would see justice done for what had happened to him.

He still hadn’t managed to find her, which was his own fault.

That, he would certainly do, after all of this was over.

But he still had a job to finish, and Lena arrived in that very room to remind him of that.

He couldn’t jump ahead, as much as he wanted to. He was going to see this through, no matter how much it hurt him to see Kara struggle while the Kryptonite in the air slowly drained away.

 _You are doing very well,_ he said, a quick reminder to the nanites that he was still present to speak to them. _Soon, this will be over, and you will have completed your work._

He hadn’t been sure how well the nanites would respond to him, an unfamiliar, larger-than-life presence in their collective consciousness. But so far, they had done as he wished, and he was more than grateful at what they had done.

Soon, as he’d told them, it would be over, and his own work would be done as well.

He wasn’t sure what would happen afterwards.

He was, perhaps, afraid of the possibilities. But right then, that wasn’t relevant. Lena was there, beside him, coaching Kara through her battle, and she was relying on him as well. Both of them were.

Any possibilities regarding his own emotions would have to wait.

~

It was just like old times- the world around him had seemed to disappear. There was only the percentage he was looking at, and the nanites that he sensed were still hard at work, and Lena beside him, reaching out to their people at the fairground.

~

“Air quality at seventy-five percent.”

~

“I can’t believe he went.” Lena remarked, watching the live footage.

Brainy moved behind her, briefly holding her arm as he did so.

“Little boxes.” He answered.

He saw two kinds, at play before them- those for the Kryptonite, containing more even as he spoke, and those for Lena’s emotions, as although he could not see her face, he knew she was concerned for her friends.

Concern that he knew all too well, especially for these people as of late.

Lena nodded, as Kara’s voice came in.

“Air check?”

“Ninety percent.”

“That’s still lethal if the suit fails.” Lena added. “You need to back off. You need to try and conserve.”

Kara’s voice was filled with a familiar determination, then.

“I’ve just gotta handle one more thing.”

~

Something was wrong.

“What’s happening?”

“The suit’s taking too much damage.” Lena answered, immediately. “So, power’s being diverted to life support.”

 _No sense in Kara dying before she can truly live freely again,_ Brainy thought. But that was something Lena could not know yet, so he kept it for himself.

Brainy and Lena could hear a blast of energy, as Alex charged Kara’s suit.

But that was temporary- and hopefully, it would be enough.

As soon as that happened, however, and Kara dispatched the alien assailant she and Alex were facing, she began to panic once more.

“What’s happening now?” Kara asked.

“I’m reading a full systems failure.” Lena said, eyes locked on the monitor displaying the suit’s inner workings.

“The suit’s locking down.” Kara said, voice rising in fear. “I can’t move!”

Kara was forced down, almost falling to her knees as the suit refused to work for her. Too busy, occupied with keeping her alive- that was all that mattered.

 _Please, please…_ Brainy pleaded, with the nanites. _I need you. Lena needs you. Supergirl needs you…we’re almost there._

~

“Air check.” Kara whispered.

“The atmosphere is ninety-nine percent clear.”

~

“Hundred percent.” Lena finally said, as Brainy got to work.

“Rerouting power away from life support.” He said, to Kara. “Unlocking suit now.”

Once that was done, Brainy and Lena saw it- Mercy and Otis being dispatched by the Hellgrammite, Kara taking off her helmet.

And only then did they both feel a sense of finality.

 _You are free._ Brainy said, to the nanites. _Thank you for your service._

_No, Querl Dox. Thank **you**._

They dispersed, to be collected again, and Brainy felt a rush of his own freedom.

Now he, as well, could start unpacking his boxes, and go through them without the weight of the world bearing down on him.

Perhaps, now, he would have company in that matter, and that brought a smile to his face as he turned to Lena- turned to his new friend, as he was certain he could call her then.

“Thank you.” He said to her.

“Anytime.”


End file.
